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Massachusetts Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown's job approval ranking in his home state still ranks higher than many senators, although the numbers are down slightly from late February, according to a new poll.

The latest statewide survey conducted by Western New England University's Polling Institute in a partnership with The Republican newspaper and MassLive.com concluded that overall, 51 percent of registered voters said they think Brown is doing a good job in the U.S. Senate.

Thirty-two percent said they disapprove of the job he is doing and 17 percent either didn't have an opinion or refused to answer the question, according to the poll data.

Among his own party members, 85 percent of Republicans polled said they approve of the job he is doing while 12 percent said they do not.

Democrats support of the senator's work by a margin of 29 to 51 percent, while more than half of independents polled say they approve.

Unaffiliated voters approve of Brown's performance by a margin of 56 to 27 percent, compared to a 58 to 21 percent margin in the previous poll.

When broken down according to gender, Brown still has strong support for his job performance among both sexes with 59 percent of men and 44 percent of women giving him the thumbs-up.

Brown and Elizabeth Warren, the chief Democratic rival in his re-election bid, both saw their overall favorability and unfavorability ratings each climb in the latest poll compared to the late February survey.

Since the last survey, both candidates have begun airing TV and radio ads, and media coverage of the Senate race has increased both locally and nationally, all likely contributing to people having an opinion on each of the candidates.

Of the registered voters polled, 49 percent said they hold a favorable view of Brown compared to 32 percent who said they see him in a negative light. For Warren, 41 percent said they see her favorably while 30 percent hold an unfavorable opinion of her.

Within their own political parties, both Brown and Warren have shored up positive opinions from 84 and 71 percent, respectively. Among independents, 55 percent of people said they hold a favorable view of Brown while only 36 percent said the same thing about Warren.

Only six percent of those surveyed said they have never heard of Warren while a mere one percent said they never heard of Brown, both numbers that are significantly lower than the respective 17 percent and five percent in the previous poll.